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Opinion

Changes are coming regarding The Spencer Magnet’s editorial and advertising deadlines, and if you ever buy ads, submit letters to the editor, community announcements, wedding or birth announcements — or anything really — you will be affected.
Beginning the week of Jan. 7, The Spencer Magnet will begin printing its paper in Shepherdsville due to its company’s Shelbyville plant closing.

When I left The Spencer Magnet office on Thursday, I had the images of happy, dancing children with brand-new shoes on their feet fresh in my mind, courtesy of the One Sole Purpose campaign’s recent work at Spencer County and Taylorsville Elementary schools.
Because I only work part time, I left work that day not to return until Tuesday. I had already made plans with my editor to write a column on the exciting experience of witnessing hundreds of local preschool, head start and elementary-aged children receive a free pair of Converse tennis shoes Thursday.

Spencer County High School is undergoing a transformation in the next school year, but passersby won’t be able to tell from the outside.
The Spencer County Board of Education passed a resolution last month to support SCHS as a location for a career and technical education site.
We applaud the board members, as well as Principal Curt Haun and Assistant Principal Steven Rucker, for pushing forward to fill this need in the Spencer County educational community.

We are rapidly approaching Christmas and festivities, dinners, and all forms of celebrations that can create a massive overload of excessive trash. Everything from Christmas cards to Christmas trees must be put away or eliminated, usually after the mess we have made with our New Year’s Eve parties.

I’m a huge football fan. Most Sunday afternoons you’ll find me plopped down in front of a TV keeping up with as much NFL news as possible. I follow more NFL experts on Twitter than my husband does, and I use my spare time to stay up-to-date on the latest news.
So, checking my Twitter feed on Saturday, I was shocked and saddened by the news coming out of Kansas City.

I recall, as a little girl, frequently opening my closet door to pull out toys or clothes — as little girls do — and getting sidetracked by a large, heavy hunk of metal laying flat in my closet floor.
The hunk of metal was inscribed with my grandfather’s name, date of birth and death, and years of service in the United States Armed Forces.
He was not killed in action, but, as a veteran of World War I, he died before I was born. Before my parents were married, I believe.

When you think you have heard it all, something new or different surfaces to rock the boat.
This being near the end of the year, we are now in the middle of deer hunting season. I got a call about an issue in a remote area of our county where hunters were taking what they wanted from their kill, and leaving the remainder to rot on the edge of the roadway.
I see roadkill almost daily on our main roads, but for someone to leave a carcass on the edge of a road after stripping what they wanted to harvest is really stepping over the line.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I for one have plenty for which to be thankful and I hope that all of you do, too.
But the truth of the matter is that there are plenty of our neighbors that could use a hand up this year.
Luckily for them, there are plenty of opportunities to give and make someone else’s holiday season a little brighter.
I wrote a column similar to this one last year, but decided to do so again because this year’s needs are no less than last year’s. In fact, they may be greater.

In the past several years since I retired from the Taylorsville Police Department, I have at times regretted that I left after only 20 years with them. It is my belief that as we walk this life we only have a certain amount of minutes to do what we were put here to accomplish. So I must ask: “why look back, and why walk those minutes with regrets?”

We hear it all the time in Kentucky, especially during presidential election years — “Why should I vote? My vote doesn’t count anyway.”
And we certainly understand the frustration and the sentiment. During presidential primaries, before Kentuckians even have a chance to have their say, the candidates are selected through the number of elections held in other states prior to ours in May.

Perhaps the most level-headed person in the discussion between the city and the county regarding our emergency responders’ radio system actually isn’t an employee or elected official of either the city or the county.
During a special meeting of the Taylorsville City Commission, Sgt. Scott Herndon, with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife — who is very much a Spencer Countian — reminded us all of why we even care about this radio business in the first place.

Probably nobody who walked through the gates of Friday night’s playoff game between Spencer County and Nelson County expected a 56-14 blowout win by the visitors. I know I didn’t, the fans didn’t and I’m quite certain the players in blue didn’t.

Last Thursday’s city commission candidate forum went off without a hitch, and we couldn’t be more thankful.
Our staff, along with the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, put a lot of time and effort into coordinating Thursday’s forum, but we couldn’t have made it happen without you — the citizens and the candidates who attended.
Thursday was a model night of how, in an ideal world, elected officials would cooperate, collaborate and, let’s just say it, get along.

When you read this article, Octoberfest will be a fond memory, and thoughts of Halloween will be dancing through the minds of the younger members of our county.
I hope everyone had a good time during the fest, because 1 know for a fact a lot of work was expended by a large number of our citizens to make it work.

Did Susan King of Mount Eden murder her former boyfriend Kyle “Deanie” Breeden of Shelbyville in 1998?
That question, which for years haunted investigators and Mr. Breeden’s family, was thought to be at rest in 2008, when Ms. King was sent to prison.
But now we have our own new set of questions about this case, including not only how the investigation has been handled but also who has a responsibility to ensure that Ms. King in fact did commit this crime.

I am proud to share my conservative principles with the State Representative of the 55th District, Kim King.
A district representative is our connection to state government, and beyond to the federal level, and I believe she represents us well.
King takes her personal pride of our community into state government, representing us, as Kentucky continues to play its vital role in the nation. King’s principles guide her to attract new business and good paying jobs to our community, as she embraces economic development, not condemns it.

On Sept. 22, we had the inaugural Elk Creek Benefit Event with the American Red Cross/Military Disaster Relief Fund. We have a great community that we live in and we would like to give a special thank you to the following for their donations and help with putting on this successful event.

I read in The Spencer Magnet this week that we had a lot more foreclosures. Have we ever asked ourselves what causes all of this bankruptcy and foreclosures? Could it be our tax structure is so high, we do not have enough money to meet our obligations?

Are you struggling to make a decision about this year’s election? Let me give you a little information that might help you out. The County Clerk’s race is surely to be a hot topic for the next couple of weeks.

Last week, we ran a photo on our sports pages that showcased the “water girls” for the Spencer County High School football team. The photo was labeled “A team behind the team,” and I erroneously left out the girls’ names from the cutline information.
You’ll find that same photo in the paper this week with those names included to make good on my mistake. This photo, submitted to us by Spencer Countian Ed Curry, inspired me to give a shout out to some of the team members behind our team here at The Magnet.